Japanese organizations are facing a pivotal shift in their business and technology priorities. The country is grappling with a significant aging population, economic uncertainty, and digital transformation challenges. Forrester’s latest research finds that Japanese organizations are prioritizing financial growth and customer experience (CX) while improving IT resilience. Here’s a look at some trends and insights from our latest report:
- Business priorities focus on costs and CX. Japanese organizations are emphasising on fiscal prudence to safeguard short-term financial objectives amidst turbulent economic times. Organizations aim to reduce costs while elevating CX and maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality. However, these organizations are struggling with insufficient resources, inadequate knowledge, and poor alignment which will hinder business objectives. Empowering your organization with automation can enable you to achieve more with less, while implementing a robust knowledge management culture will upskill employees, promote knowledge-sharing, and future-proof workflows and learning.
- IT priorities emphasize reliability and resilience. Business and technology pros in Japan emphasise that improving IT reliability and resilience is among their firm’s highest IT priorities. To make IT more reliable and address myriad challenges confronting IT ecosystems, modernizing applications and infrastructure was touted as the most important action for their IT organization. However, resource availability, skills, and compliance requirements hinders them from fulfilling their IT priorities. This highlights the need for a resilient, long-term IT strategy that ensures challenges are anticipated, giving more room for flexibility.
- IT investments priortize automation and security. Japan’s progressively aging demographic has a profound impact on organizations, and hence, we expect that Japanese firms are strategically seeking to leverage and expedite technological advancements to sustain productivity and efficiency in the face of a looming contraction in the talent pipeline. It is hence no surprise that Japanese organizations are leveraging on artificial intelligence (AI) as well as cloud, data and security technologies. This increased technological focus has also brought its concerns, with Japanese firms significantly increasing their investment in security and risk management, looking to invest in and implement technologies such as Zero Trust.
Navigating the complexities of Japan’s business and technology landscape will be imperative for the rest of 2024 and beyond. Adopting flexible and agile business practices can help Japanese organizations quickly respond and adapt to these key trends.
For a more detailed analysis and recommendations, please find the full report here. Connect with me through a guidance session or inquiry to further explore how these insights can shape your organization’s strategic planning for 2024 and 2025.
